


When Blackbirds Meet

by sammycrusinix



Category: Yugioh 5Ds
Genre: F/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-12-15
Updated: 2013-12-15
Packaged: 2018-01-04 16:56:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,129
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1083422
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sammycrusinix/pseuds/sammycrusinix
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A new girl arrives in Neo Domino city and saves one of Crow's flock, but is she just a new friend or does she come with her own set of problems? And how does she connect to the Crimson Dragon?</p>
            </blockquote>





	When Blackbirds Meet

She sat under the shade of a nearby tree watching with uninterested pale blue eyes. Yet every now and then she would turn her gaze from the happy scene in front of her to the notebook in her lap, gently sliding the pencil across the page.

She had done this everyday since she came to this city; it wasn't her intention to be a creeper. But nobody here seemed to notice her presence, much less give her a passing glance. 'Rich' she thought sarcastically, 'though I can't really judge them too harshly' She also came from money, being left quite a bit of it to keep her comfortable for the rest of her life.

She shook herself from those thoughts and went back to her sketch; it was of the kids dueling with their happy smiling faces. She loved to capture moments of complete joy with her pad, then it could never be forgotten. She looked fondly at the picture before her, her sketching abilities were only matched by her dueling skills.

Suddenly the sound of a D-wheel engine appeared not far from her, followed by the sound of car doors opening and closing and the happy chatter of children. Another wave of children came running down the hill heading for the playground or meeting with other children and joining their games; she'd been coming here for days and didn't recognize any of them. 'Maybe some type of daycare?' she thought turning to a new page.

One of the kids began yelling a name over and over, "Big brother Crow! Big brother Crow! Come play with us!" the dark haired girl blinked, 'Crow? That's a strange name.' just as she thought that said person came walking down the hill, "Yeah, yeah squirts. I'm coming!" Her eyes widened at the sight of him; a short man, well short to some, but taller than her, with spiky orange hair, grey eyes and multiple yellow tattoo's all over his face. He wore a brown vest with an orange muscle shirt and green cargo pants that were tucked into his brown boots and gray arm warmers.

Beside him walked a dark skinned lady with dark brown hair and a maroon dress, she didn't look young but she didn't look old either. But her dark brown eyes shone with happiness and strength.

The blue eyed girl was more focused however on the guy with her; he was definitely different from the people who usually came to this park,  _way_  different. He didn't seem to care about the stares he got from the moms or even from some of the kids. He still smiled without a care in the world as he chased some kids around, as she stared in awe she could feel her heart about ready to stop because of how beautiful he looked in that moment.

She blinked, ' _Beautiful?_  Have I lost my mind? I can't just go around calling random guys beautiful.' Glancing back up again she didn't see him anymore, she quickly scanned the area and found him standing near the jungle gym, but he wasn't staring at the kids as the mothers were. He was looking the opposite direction, almost like he was...but he couldn't right?

She looked around her to see if maybe someone was standing there being a creep, or if maybe there was some sort of common on the street behind her. No dice on either, which left one option as she looked back in his direction; he was staring at her. The look in his steel eyes made her squirm slightly, and it wasn't until he started walking toward her that she panicked.

Quickly shoving her pencil and pad into her bag she practically jumped up from her spot, 'Wait a second! Why the heck am I freaking out? It's a public park, I can sit here if I want too.' Though she reasoned this out inside her head, her heart didn't seem to want to slow down as he got closer. She looked around desperate to escape his intense gaze, but what caught her gaze wasn't exactly what she thought she was going to see here.

Standing not far off was a man with bright blue spiked hair and yellow eyes in a long black trench coat with matching pants and boots; he was kneeling down speaking to one of the children that that guy came with. She shook her head and attempted to walk away, but the man reached out and grabbed her around the waist and placing his hand over her mouth.

The dark haired girl frowned and pulled her duel disk out of her bag, 'Oh no you don't!' slipping the disk onto her arm as she quickly ran to cut him off, appearing just in time as he halted to a stop in front of her. "What the hell? Who are you?" her pale blue eyes flashed as she drew a card from her deck and placed it on the disk, "You're worst nightmare punk. Go, Red Eyes Black Chick!"

A tiny black dragon with red eyes appeared before her letting out a tiny growl, the man before her laughed. "What the hell do you think you're gonna do with a hologram? Outta the way dummy!" she narrowed her eyes and snapped her fingers, Red Eyes Black Chick blew fire at the ground where he was standing stopping him in his tracks.

"Shit! That's real! You're a psychic duelist!" she turned the name around in her head, "I don't really know what that is, but I suggest you let that little girl go. Cuz my dragon here may be cute, but he isn't really known for his patience. In fact, neither am I." she said narrowing her eyes.

The man seemed to be looking for a way out; she smiled when defeat found its way into his eyes. "Fine! You win,  _this_  time!" and with that he dropped the crying girl to the ground and ran into the trees. The dark haired girl breathed a sigh of relief; she walked up to the crying girl and kneeled down a few feet away. "Are you ok? Are you hurt anywhere?"

The little brunette sniffled, "N-no. I-I was so scared! He-he said he lost his sister and when I told him I didn't know her and he grabbed me!" she started crying again anew, the dark haired girl sighed and gently patted the little girl on the head, "It's ok now, you're safe. He's not gonna hurt you anymore." But the girl just continued to cry, "Alright, how about this. If you stop crying I will let you pet my friend Red Eyes Black Chick huh?" she tried with a smile.

The girl looked at the Duel monster behind her and surprisingly enough stopped crying, "C-can I really?" Smiling she nodded, the brunette smiled and cheered. "Yay! Thank you so much!" The blue eyed girl wasn't sure what she was thanking her for, but decided not to think it over to much.

She stood as the little black dragon landed in her arms, growling contently. Kneeling down again she looked at the little girl, "Don't worry, he won't bite. Will you buddy?" The dragon let out a sound similar to a baby lion and the little girl laughed before reaching her hand out and gently stroking his head.

The girl stared in awe, "He's so warm!" fast footsteps brought her from the scene in front of her, as the guy from earlier appeared in front of them. "Alisha!" The dark haired girl quickly stood up and sent the dragon back to his plane; she backed up as the man hugged the little girl.

"What happened? One second you were there, the next you were gone! Are you ok?" extreme worry was evident in his steel colored eyes. "I'm sorry big brother! This man tried to kidnap me! But this nice lady came along and saved me, then she let me pet her duel monster!" the dark haired girl blinked, 'well that's one way to sum it all up.'

The man, Crow, stood up and looked at her. She blushed and looked away; she could probably guess what face he was making. The same face she had been receiving all her life; disgust. 'I suppose I should be used to that by now.' She thought sadly backing up more.

She turned off her duel disk and let her hand fall to her side, turning away. To see a look of disgust on such a beautiful face would be too much for her to bear, "It's no big deal. Just try to keep a better eye on things huh?" she laughed dryly and began to walk away.

A hand on her arm forced her to stop; she turned surprised to see not disgust filled features but surprise and…happiness? "Hey, don't go yet. I want to thank you." Her eyes widened, "Really, it's no big deal." He shook his head, "No, it's a huge deal. These kids, they're like my family. They mean everything to me, so saving even one of them is monumental to me, ya know?"

She didn't know what to say; in truth she didn't know how that felt; no one ever tried. She cringed at that thought; she really didn't want to think about that. "I don't have much, but how about I treat you to something to eat as thanks? I mean it's the least I can do." Crow didn't look at her as he said this, and he was rubbing the back of his head.

"Um…" she replied intelligently, "Oh please eat with us miss! Then you can show us your duel monster cards and maybe bring them to life again!" the little girl said hopefully. Crow laughed, "I don't think Yusei or Jack would appreciate that too much! But seriously! You should come! I'm sure they won't mind."

They both looked at her expectantly; she wasn't sure what to say really. No one had ever invited her to eat after finding out about her abilities, 'then again, what could it hurt to have one little meal with them?' she thought.

Finally she nodded her head, "A-alright. Sure, let me just get my bag. I think I left it where I was sitting." She said thoughtfully. She hoped it was there anyway, she couldn't really remember what she had done with it in all the excitement. Crow pulled something off his shoulder, "You mean this?" he said holding up a dingy orange messenger bag, now with the added effect of dirt.

"Where did you…" he laughed again, "I kinda got distracted when I was coming to talk to you earlier. When I looked back again all I saw was your bag, I thought you bolted." He laughed nervously, "I was gonna return it to ya, I swear." She blinked, "That…wasn't what I was thinking. But thanks, I appreciate you picking it up for me." She smiled slightly as she said this.

A faint blush dusted Crow's cheeks as he scratched his head again, his eyes widened suddenly. "Oh! I guess I should introduce myself, the names Crow Hogan!" She didn't want to tell him she already knew, so she replied instead. "My name's Raven, its nice to meet you Crow." He blinked then laughed.

"Well it's nice to meet another bird! Come on, I need to tell Martha what happened then I can give you a ride back to my place on the Blackbird." Raven assumed that was what he chooses to call his D-wheel, she shook her head. "That's alright; I have a runner of my own right up the hill. I can just follow you if you want."

He smiled again, "Killer! I can't wait to see it! Just pull around to the parking lot and we can head out." She nodded and waited till him and the little girl began walking back toward the play ground. She sighed as she walked toward her own runner, 'What a day. I have a feeling I'm going to need a nap after this is over.'

* * *

She pulled her D-wheel next to what looked like the Black bird, as it looked very similar to a crow and what looked to be wings folded up on the rear. That and it being  _black_  was a very big hint. Parked next to it was a white van that the rest of the kids probably rode in.

Raven climbed off her runner and leaned against it, she didn't have to wait long before the wave of children she saw earlier come rushing back up the hill, right toward her. Her eyes widened as she was suddenly surrounded, all of them talking at once. "Can we pet your duel monster too? Is this your duel runner? It's so cool! Can I ride it? Can we see your other monsters?" She didn't really know how to respond.

A stern female voice rang out behind them, "Children! Don't crowd the poor girl! You're scaring her half to death." All at once the children replied with a high pitched, "Yes Martha!" Crow came up along side her, and smiled as soon as he saw her. 'Weird.'

"Alright you brats, back into the car we gotta head home now to start dinner." They replied with another high pitched reply and piled back into the van, Crow closed the door behind them then turned and walked up to her. Raven stood straight, she could tell without even asking this woman deserved her complete respect. Suddenly her arms were around her, Raven's eyes widened, "Thank you. Thank you for saving my kids." She blushed, not sure how to react to this sudden display of affection.

But just as it began it was done, Martha stepped back dusting off Raven's black jacket. "I expect you will be joining us for dinner?" even though it was posed as a question, Raven knew it really was a command and nodded quickly. Martha smiled, "Good!" and just like that she walked away and into the van quickly driving off. Leaving Raven standing there blinking in surprise, 'that was…unexpected.'

"She can be kind of scary sometimes, but don't let it get to you. She's a really kind hearted person." Crow said as he stood in front of his D-wheel, "She seems like it. Cool Runner by the way, it matches you." He laughed, "Thanks! So does yours!"

Her D-wheel was pretty simple, its base color was black the head of the bike curved over the front tire to look like the face of a bird with eyes that were a dark purple and what looked to be tail feathers coming out of the back of the boosters, the ends also tinted dark purple.

It wasn't fancy, but she was proud to have it. "T-thanks. Shall we go?" Crow nodded already on his runner and slipping his helmet on, which also had black feathers tinted with gold coming out of the sides. Hers was similar except the ends and eye shield was tinted purple, it was after all her favorite color.

After revving their engines a few times they sped out of the parking lot and down the street.

~0~0~

The ride was short, Raven noticed as they pulled into the garage of an art studio called Poppo Time. Inside the garage were two other runners, one shaped like a giant wheel that seemed vaguely familiar and one that red with black handrails that also seemed vaguely familiar, but she couldn't really place either of them. She parked hers next to the wall, not wanting to intrude incase she was in someone else's spot.

She watched as Crow hopped off his runner and walked up the stairs, tossing his helmet off in the process. "You can just hang out down there if you want, there's a couch over there you can sit on. I'm gonna get a shower before we go." She nodded as he left, leaving her alone in this strange place.

She took off her helmet and after placing it on her runner she walked around the others before reaching the couch Crow had mentioned, she could hear water running upstairs. The place, despite being kind of empty felt…homey, like a place anyone would feel safe.

Against the wall in front of her was a computer, with stacks of paper beside it and a bunch of tools underneath. Upon closer inspection, the papers were notes a blue prints for D-wheels, whoever owned this stuff I was an amazing mechanic. Not far from that was a stack of ramen bowls, 'ok, someone is a little to obsessed with ramen..' she thought with a giggle.

Voices yelling from outside shocked her, she hit behind the arm of the couch as they got closer. "Hmph! How dare that man talk to me, Jack Atlas that way! He wouldn't know a good worker if one bit him in the butt!" "Jack, come on. It was your fault he fired you, the whole point of a job is to actually do work. Not make other people do it for you."

The voices sounded familiar too, but again she couldn't place them. Suddenly two men walked through the door of the garage, one was blonde with amethyst eyes and clad in a white trench coat and the other had raven black hair with gold streaks running through them with cobalt eyes and tanned skin, he was much taller than Crow but sorter than the blonde man he stood next too, he wore a blue jacket with a black top and brown gloves and boots his black pants tucked into them.

Said raven haired guy stopped when he saw her D-wheel parked there, "Are we supposed to have a guest?" he asked the blonde man, "How the duce should I know! As long as whoever it is stays away from my Wheel of Fortune then I don't care." He walked, or strutted past her runner and toward the couch. As quietly as she could she moved from the side to the back hoping that neither would notice her presence.

Luckily the she felt the blonde sit heavily against the couch; she pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. She wasn't very good with new people, or people in general. Of course that tended to happen when you spent everyday getting disgusted looks and rocks thrown at you, she buried her face in her knees wishing Crow would hurry up.

Suddenly footsteps walked right past her, she curled tighter into herself desperately hoping that they wouldn't see her, her heart stopped when the foot steps stop then scuff as the person turned. "What are you looking at Yusei?" Raven peeked through her bangs and saw the man with cobalt eyes staring right at her, she gasped.

The couch moved behind her as its occupant turned, no doubt from hearing her frightened sound. "Who the duces are you?" he yelled causing her to jump from her spot, turning toward the voice. The blonde was now off the couch and standing, looking extremely angry.

He took a step around the couch; she made a strangled sound and scurried toward the wall but he kept coming. "Jack stop!" the guy with the spiked black hair yelled, but the blonde didn't stop. Raven closed her eyes, her heart pounding she could feel the power begin to raise her hair, flailing slightly as she looked at the stacks of paper. Then they flew across the room toward the blonde, knocking him back onto the couch.

"What the hell?" he tried to get up again but was knocked back by a ramen bowl, each time he tried to rise he would be hit with another one. Raven didn't want to hurt him, just keep him from reaching her, the dark haired male didn't move from his spot. It saved him from the ramen attack.

She looked at him expecting to see disgust or terror; she was surprised when all she saw was a look a curiosity and a smile. 'He finds this  _funny?_ ' she looked back at the blonde attempting to swat the ramen that kept flying at him, she had to admit it was quite the sight. She giggled, causing the raven haired male to look at her.

This time however he did start coming toward her, the ramen bowl moved from the blonde and into his path. He stopped and looked straight into her eyes, "its ok, we aren't going to hurt you. Everything's ok alright? Jack is sorry for scaring you." "Like hell I am! She's attacking  _me_!" she tossed another ramen bowl at his head before it dropped to the ground. She stared into the raven's eyes; and could tell he wasn't lying. She nodded as the ramen and papers each went back to their respective places on the table.

"Jack, why don't you go upstairs and change for dinner. You've got dust everywhere." The blonde breathed out an aggravated sigh, "Of course! Jack Atlas doesn't walk around with even a smudge of dirt on!" he glared at her before strutting up the stairs, "He's gone, and you can relax. Are you alright? I know he scared you, I'm sorry. He was just surprised is all."

He patted the couch, "why don't you come sit down? I'll get you something to drink," With that he walked over to the sink, hesitantly she got up and slowly made her way over to the furniture. 'This was such a bad idea.' She thought sitting down again, the man brought a glass full of water and placed it on the coffee table in front of her before going and leaning against the desk.

"T-Thank you…" she replied taking a sip, he nodded. "Are you feeling better?" 'Truthfully? I just wanna go home now.' She thought, but didn't answer. The man sighed, "Well anyway, my name is Yusei Fudo." "Ah…I'm Raven. Sorry about throwing your stuff." She replied with a blush.

He brushed it off, "It's no big deal, and Jack kind of deserved it. So you're a psychic duelist? That's cool." 'That word again. What the heck is that?' she thought, "Well I-"but she was cut off by a voice from the stairs, "Hey Yus, what's up with Jack? He looks like he got attacked by a dust rag!" Crow said as he walked down the stairs. Yusei laughed, "Something like that. Let's just say he got on the wrong side of our guest here."

Crow raised an eyebrow, and then laughed, "Oh man! That's awesome! I wish I had seen that!" he held his side, Raven wasn't sure it was that funny but wasn't willing to tell him otherwise. "Is she a friend of yours Crow?" Yusei asked pointing to her.

"Not really." She said.

"Yeah!" Crow replied.

Raven stared at him, 'is this guy  _insane_?' Yusei raised a brow, and then shrugged. "Well whatever, just be sure not to make a mess when Jack comes back down." He said giving her a small smile, she blushed again and bowed her head. "I'm sorry."

Crow came up behind her, "Hey, don't worry about it! Our friend Akiza made a way bigger mess when we first met her!" she jumped at this, "What do you mean?" he flashed her a smile that made her heart pound before replying, "Yeah, she's a psychic duelist like you are! But man did she have a lot less control, uh but she is way better now." He said scratching his head in embarrassment.

She stared at him, 'Someone like me? How? And what the heck is a psychic duelist?' Before she could even voice these thoughts Crow turned toward the clock hanging on the wall and looked toward the stairs. "Jack, come on! Martha is gonna kill us if we're late again!" she heard a grumbling that sounded like "Perfection cannot be rushed." Or something like that. That guy, Jack, seemed like that type of person, though she had never met a person who referred to themselves in the third person before.

But not long after did the blonde reenter, freshly clothed. She stared down at the now empty cup in her hands, but she could see from her peripheral vision as he stared heatedly at her before strutting back through the door he came in earlier. She sighed, 'Geeze, that guy is scary. Wait a second…did Crow say…'

"Umm, is that guy…coming too?" Crow looked at her and smiled again, "Well duh, Martha is like our mom. We wouldn't miss dinner with her for the world!" she groaned, suddenly not that hungry. Yusei and Crow just looked at each other with confused looks.

~0~0~

After a relatively short walk to Martha's Raven now stood inside a small two story house, on her left was a staircase which children were running up and down. In front was a long hall which apparently veered off toward the clinic that was also here. She followed the three boys a little down the hall and around a corner to a dinning room already set, at the far end of the room was a window that looked out into the yard and onto the kids playing hide and seek.

"Boys! It's so good to see you!" she jumped back as Martha appeared from the door way, an apron tied around her waist. She wrapped her arms around all three of them, smiling happily. Raven felt like she was intruding on a family moment, it made her uncomfortable. They began talking about this and that, it made her remember her own parents. They would stand around and talk with her about everything, there was no secrets between them. At least that's what she thought…

Martha calling her name pulled her from her thoughts, "It's so great of you to join us! There's no way I will ever be able to thank you, but I suppose this would be a start." She wasn't sure how to respond to her gratitude, no one had ever thanked her before. "I-it's no big deal, really. I'm sure anyone would have done it, I just happened to be there." Martha rubbed her arm, "Nonsense! You were there, which means you were meant to be there and we were meant to meet. Now please sit down, I'm sure you're tired from being with these trouble makers all day."

With that she was pushed into one of the seats at the table as Martha walked back into the kitchen, the smell home cooked food wafting out as the door opened and closed behind her. She was surprised, even though they had just met this women treated her as an honored guest. Maybe it was a good thing she came here? She smiled as a warm feeling filled her heart; Crow walked over and lightly tapped her shoulder. "It's about time you smiled!" he smiled as he said this.

She blushed, and got up again. Crow had that strange look in his eyes again that make her heart do funny things, Jack had already settled down at a seat on the far end of the table, she thanked her lucky stars for that, and Yusei had left to see too a broken computer. "I'm uh, gonna go see if Martha needs any help." She didn't wait for a reply before she quickly retreated behind the doors.

Inside she saw Martha briskly walking around the kitchen, going between pots of cooking food and the fridge to get more food out. Martha didn't seem to notice her walk in, she cleared her throat catching the woman's attention, "Oh Raven, you scared me! What can I do for you?" she looked around nervously, "W-well I came to see if you needed any help. I'm pretty good at cooking you see, and I thought maybe…" she trailed off realizing she was babbling.

The woman smiled, "I would love some help dear! Why don't you put up your hair then wash your hands and you can start on the stew for me?" Raven smiled, and did as she instructed.

* * *

Raven put the lid on the boiling pot and turned off the fire, she smiled as she looked at everything they finished. There was enough food here to feed a small army, and even scraps left to feed the dogs.

Martha was collecting everyone at the table and getting plates to fill, Raven laughed as she remembered Martha tasting her stew, I woman nearly fainted at how good it was. "Raven dear! You said you were good, but this is incredible!" she smiled; it was her mother's recipe and never failed to impress.

Walking to the sink, she began to wash her hands again. All the vegetables and spices had made her hands smell funny; Martha came in as she was drying her hands, the woman's arms filled with plates. "Here, let me help." Martha handed her some and she went to fill them with food.

She wasn't sure how she managed it, but when she left the kitchen she had five plates and got them on the table without spilling or breaking anything. Martha of course was more impressive as she carried another six plates out and placed them on the table, she wiped her brow and smiled. "Hmm, now where is everyone? I told them five minutes. "

"I can get them; I think I hear Crow and Jack outside." And with that she left the room.

Raven heard Crow yelling even before she got out the door, they had somehow gotten a hold of Crow's headband and were running and tossing it between them. It was funny seeing him so flustered, but he was clearly playing along. She smiled, "What an idiot, running around getting his clothes all dirty right before dinner." A voice said from beside her.

She turned and jumped at least three feet away, that blonde guy, Jack? Was standing right next to her, "What the duce? I'm not going to attack you, so you can relax." When she didn't reply he hmph'ed and went inside, when she was sure he was gone she sighed. "So scary…"

Walking over to the group of kids still teasing Crow she cleared her throat, but that didn't seem to get their attention. "Umm…Excuse me?" she tried a little louder, still nothing. At this point she wished Jack-scary had stuck around. But as he didn't she was left with two options; use her powers, which she did not want to do, or try yelling louder, but she doubted her voice could go any louder.

As she was thinking however, she didn't see the kids begin tossing the headband closer and closer to where she was standing. Until finally a black haired child tossed it too hard, completely missing the child waiting to catch it, and landing smack dab in Raven's forehead. The object surprised her so much, she squeaked as her body fell hard to the ground.

The kids laughed but Crow ran over to her side, "Oh my god! I'm so sorry, are you alright?" he asked. Raven blushed slightly as his hand lightly touched her face as lifted the headband off her face, it was all she could do to nod without her heart pounding out of her chest.

Sitting up she rubbed her sore backside, hoping there wasn't a bruise forming. Crow lightly grasped her hand making her heart pound more, as a chorus of"ooh" and "aww's" rang. They both looked at the children as they started chanting the words, "Kiss" and "do it!"

Raven thought her heart would stop from how embarrassed she was, Crow jumped up his face just as red as hers, "You little nerds need to go inside, Martha probably has dinner ready." He shouted, the kids giggled and ran past them.

Crow scratched his head also blushing, he stuck his hand out. "Come on, Martha will be mad if we keep her waiting." She nodded still not looking at him and took his hand, she gasped as he pulled her up. She cleared her throat to distract herself and wiped the dirt off her clothes. "You're right. Let's go." She looked up and smiled as she began walking past him.

Unknown to Raven, Crow was still standing there after she left. His steel eyes wide in awe, he chuckled as he followed her.

* * *

The dinner was nice, great even. If not lively; Yusei told Martha how Jack had tried to attack her, resulting in said blonde to getting wacked by a spoon. Crow proceeded to laugh and crack jokes about him getting beaten by ramen bowls, which made Jack steal his food. Yusei told the kids about his latest project with the D-wheels, but got into so much detail that he lost everyone, Raven included.

'All and all it was a pretty fun night' she thought as she sat there listening to a conversation they were all having, the kids had been excused to get ready for bed. Raven discovered that these people were endlessly fascinating, telling stories of fighting something called "The Dark Signers" and something else about a dragon, though she didn't catch the rest as a tug on her sleeve pulled her attention.

Standing next to her was a boy around eight years old, with dark blonde hair that covered one of his light green eyes. He stood next to her hands balled and a frown on his face with light blue jeans and a blue t-shirt, "You should tell me a story before bed." He shouted, she blinked 'He kind of reminds me of someone…' stretching her arms, "Not if you're gonna ask like that." She settled back into the chair and closed her eyes.

She heard him stomp his foot in indignation and had to resist the urge not to giggle as she peaked through her lashes at his face, red and puffy like a fish. "Tell me a story now!" he yelled again, this had apparently gotten everyone else's attention as they were staring at them, "That's not how you ask someone for something squirt." Crow turned toward him and said. "I wasn't talking to you tattoo face." Crow growled, "Why you…"

Raven was getting a headache from all this, opening her eyes she looked the rude boy straight in the eye, "If you want something, I suggest you learn how to ask properly and not insult others." Her voice was hard and intense; she knew she had reached him when the wide eyed boy nodded, "Good." She smiled, "Now I believe you owe everyone here an apology for being rude and to Crow for calling him names."

The boy looked down and balled his fists again and bowed, "I…I'm sorry." She smiled and ruffled his hair, "See, now was that so hard? Why don't you go gather everyone in one place then come get me and I will tell you all a story." He looked at her, a slight frown on his face before nodding and running off.

Raven sighed and scratched her head, "I apologize for Nao's attitude, and he's been kind of a handful since he came." Martha said, Raven shook her head, "That boy is just very lonely, so he puts up a strong front. I don't take it personally; I was just like him when I was his age, though I suppose our circumstances are vastly different." She said with a smile.

"Speaking of, where are you from? It doesn't seem like you're from Neo Domino city." Yusei said, Raven had been hoping to avoid talking about her past, but decided it was ok to talk generalities. "You're right about that, I moved here a couple of weeks ago. I used to live in a town way east of here called, Alturas. But I definitely wouldn't recommend visiting." A chill went down her spine as memories of that horrible place came to mind.

"What do you mean? Surely it couldn't have been that horrible." She shook her head, "Trust me, only one type of people live there. And anyone who thinks or acts differently than them isn't exactly welcomed with open arms." She was rubbing holes in her pants as she said this; her heart was pounding so fast, she thought they could hear it.

Crow seemed to sense her agitation, and thankfully changed the subject to a man called Kalin who lived in Crash Town not far from here. She remembered seeing a town like that on a map when she first left Alturas. The way Crow and Yusei seemed to describe it, it was very western and seemed like a place she probably wouldn't want to visit, too many scary people with duel guns.

A person clearing their throat brought her from her thoughts, looking down she saw Nao was once again standing next too her only he was blushing and refused to look at her. 'How cute!' she thought, "Everyone is ready…" she smiled and nodded.

"Well then," she turned to Martha and the boys, "If you will excuse me." They nodded so she stood and took the child's lead out of the room.

* * *

Crow watched her walk out of the room, everything she did she seemed to do with the utmost grace. 'There's something different about her, that's for sure.' He thought as she disappeared around the corner.

"My, what a charming girl! I do hope I will be seeing more of her." Martha gave Crow and strange look that made him blush, though he had no idea why, but the thought of her being around more made him…happy. "Well I think she needs a lesson on how to treat a man of my stature." Jack said as he sipped his coffee, Crow didn't understand the man's dislike of the girl, it was his fault she pelted him with food.

"I think it would be a good idea for her and Akiza to meet, it would be good for both of them." Yusei said putting his chin on his hands, Crow nodded. He found it odd that she seemed so scared of people, but it kind of reminded him of how Akiza used to be. He knew about how bad her life had gotten as she grew up, but unlike Raven she got angry and took it out on people during duels.

Crow could only imagine what could have caused Raven to be deathly afraid of people, but it seemed like a sore subject and not something he wanted to pry into. The red head's ear suddenly picked up a strange sound, soft yet beautiful coming from inside the house, 'is someone….singing?' he thought as he listened closer.

"Alright, this is something my mother used to sing to me all the time. Promise not to make fun of my bad singing voice alright?" Raven said as the kids all nodded, she took a deep breath and began.

_"People tell me my heads in the clouds; I don't care what they say because I'm dreaming of you."_

A few awes sounded around her before they were shushed.  _"You are the treasure I've found, so bright so bold yet so elusive_." She looked at the children as she continued.

_"Its hard to look away, even though it's blinding me. There are no words to describe how I feel inside; I'm really really stuck on you oh whoa."_

_"I have to follow my dreams however crazy they seem, and I won't stop till I get there you will see. You're all I need to have the strength to believe…Believe in wonderland!"_  She held the last word for a few seconds, and then smiled at the kids.

_"There is no limit to us we have the power of love. We don't wanna live ordinary lives, we have a chance to live in paradise, believe in wonderland!"_

* * *

Crow's eyes were wide, and his heart was beating fast. He couldn't believe what he just heard, it was beautiful yet heartbreaking. Martha sniffled and wiped a tear from her eye, "What a beautiful song. She is quite a talented girl." She gave Crow the look that made him blush.

Crow stood as he heard shuffling upstairs, the kid's most likely heading to bed. He walked out of the room as the clicking of boots came down the stairs. He made it there just as she hit the bottom step, blushing as she noticed him standing there. He scratched his head, a habit he picked up when he was nervous. "That was a great song, I really liked it." Her pale blue eyes widened for a second before her blush reached all the way up too her ears, she nodded in thanks.

Jack and Yusei came around the corner, "Looks like its time to head out." He smiled at her; she turned an even darker shade of red and nodded. Martha showed them to the door, hugging each of them, Raven included. Crow was the last one out the door and as Martha hugged him tightly she whispered in his ear, "I do expect we will be seeing more of this girl." The warm feeling appeared in his chest again and he nodded.

~0~0~

The walk back had been short and quiet, Raven hadn't said much. That is until Yusei brought up Akiza, she seemed intrigued by her having psychic abilities similar to hers. Crow noticed though that whenever anyone said 'Psychic Duelist' she got this confused look on her face. He decided to check, "Raven, do you know what a psychic duelist is?"

She immediately shook her head.

Crow was at a loss for words, "Where did you say you grew up again? Cuz from the sounds of it was under a rock, it's you ya idiot!" He didn't mean to say it, but it just kinda slipped out. Crow had never wanted to take words back until the moment he looked into her eyes and saw the shame, embarrassment, and anger. "Thanks for clarifying, I think I'm gonna head back to my rock now." She replied as she ran toward the loft.

"Well that was brilliant Crow." Jack said still walking, Yusei looked at me "I'm gonna have to agree with Jack here. That was not your best line." Crow hit his face with the palm of his hand; he screamed in frustration and ran after her as fast as his feet would go.

By the time he reached the loft ten minutes later though, Raven and her runner were already gone. He kicked the wall and ran a hand through his hair there was a pain in his chest, "Why am I such an idiot!" he cried.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!


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